Covid Vaccine Rollout Slow In Tom Green County

SAN ANGELO, TX – Texas is entering Week 5 of the COVID-19 vaccination effort and to date, the state has administered more than 700,000 first doses.

In Tom Green County, local pharmacies and Shannon Medical Center have been allocated a total of 9,550 doses.

This doses include the patients who have received the first shot and patients who have been fully immunized with both doses. In Week 5 the county will receive 400 additional doses.

To put this in context, the Department of State Health Services has determined that in Tom Green County there are 93,428 residents over the age of 16 who would be eligible to receive that vaccine. 

This means that as of Sunday afternoon:

• 1,633 or 1.75% of the eligible group has been fully immunized
• 3,497 or 3.74% of the eligible group has received the first dose

According to DSHS, the more than 93,000 eligible patients are further categorized in the following manner:

• 7,802 - Phase 1A Healthcare Workers
• 1,606 - Phase 1A Long-term Care Residents
• 39,665 - Phase 1B Any Medical Condition

In Texas, 1B vaccination will focus on people for whom there is strong and consistent evidence that COVID-19 makes them more likely to become very sick or die. 

Patients who fall under the 1B category must meet at least one of these requirements:

• People 65 years of age and older
• People 16 years of age and older with at least one chronic medical condition that puts them at increased risk for severe illness from the virus that causes COVID-19, such as but not limited to:
  • Cancer
  • Chronic kidney disease
  • COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
  • Heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease ,or cardiomyopathies
  • Solid-organ transplantation
  • Obesity and severe obesity (body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or higher)
  • Pregnancy
  • Sickle cell disease
  • Type 2 diabetes mellitus

"Preventing the disease among people who have these risk factors will dramatically reduce the number of Texans who die from the disease and relieve pressure on the healthcare system by reducing hospital and ICU admissions," said DSHS in a press release. "Vaccination will also reduce absenteeism among the front-line workers at the greatest risk of severe disease and protect individuals at risk for health inequities."

According  to the San Angelo Health Department, the city has reached registration capacity for the COVID-19 vaccine for Group 1.

Registration will reopen when additional vaccine stock is received by the Health Department. New vaccine registration details will be posted on this site, sent to the media and announced via city social media channels. 

When registration reopens to the public, officials will still be concentrating on people who are over the age of 65 and who do not have a primary care provider.